All Rise...

Editor's Note

The Charge

Have faith.

Opening Statement

"This may be our only chance to save mankind…to save the
world."

Facts of the Case

The year is 2707 and the world has changed. The entirety of the planet is
more or less controlled by four massive corporations. The corporations are not
content with their own massive piece of the pie, instead choosing to war against
each other in the hopes of "winning it all." In the midst of the
battle, an ancient seal buried under the ground is broken. The consequence? A
massive army of killer mutants is unleashed upon the earth, threatening to bring
an end to all of humanity. A monk named Brother Samuel (Ron Perlman, Hellboy) chooses to fight this threat by
assembling a group of expert soldiers. The leader of this group is Major Mitch
Hunter (Thomas Jane, The Punisher), a
grizzled old soldier whose only reason for accepting the mission is to earn a
pass that will allow him to travel off-planet. Will the monk, the Major, and
their rugged crew be able to save humanity from the mutant monsters?

The Evidence

We've seen films based on older films, television shows, novels, comic books,
video games, toys, and just about everything else, it seems. Now we're making
movies based on board games. I was quite surprised to discover that Mutant
Chronicles began as precisely that before later inspiring its own line of
cards, comics, fan fiction novels, and so on. The feature film version sort of
came and went without much notice in early 2009, generating middling reviews
upon being made available as a limited theatrical release and a Video on Demand
feature. Considering the poor reception of the film, I'm somewhat surprised to
see such a lavish 2-disc DVD release for it. Ah, well. I suppose the folks at
Magnolia Home Entertainment are hoping the film will become a much-loved cult
classic on DVD.

Perhaps it could, but I seriously doubt it. Mutant Chronicles is a
loud, sloppy mess that introduces a lot of intriguing elements but never really
manages to get any of them right. The initial set-up leads the viewer to believe
that they are about to be immersed in a futuristic world as complex and detailed
as something like Blade Runner
or Children of Men, but after the
details of how the world works are introduced, such elements are tossed to the
side. That's too bad, because I was quite curious as to the details of how these
four corporations came to take over the world and go to war with each other.
However, I assume I'm the only one who was hoping for some sort of dystopian
political commentary here.

Those who check out the film are undoubtedly doing so because they want to
see some intense man-on-mutant action, and that's precisely what they're going
to get. I'd like to praise the film as an entertaining shoot-em-up flick, but
the action is too chaotic and disorganized to be that much fun. The big opening
sequence is yet another attempt to duplicate the frantic opening of Saving Private Ryan, but isn't
nearly as gut-wrenching or effective. The murky color tones of the film don't
help the action much either, as it often feels like we're watching random bits
of blood and flesh flying through a blue fog.

There are several noteworthy names in the cast, but most of them disappoint.
Ron Perlman sports a distracting Irish accent that comes and goes as it pleases,
and Perlman's terribly earnest facial expressions are often unintentionally
amusing. Still, he's better than Thomas Jane, whose tough guy act was much more
convincing in The Punisher than it is
here. I couldn't help but laugh at loud at several of his attempts to pull off
action movie clichés (barely even flinching when an explosion goes off
right behind him, for instance). John Malkovich receives above-the-credits
billing and a prominent spot on the packaging, but unfortunately he has even
less screen time in this film than he did in Eragon.

Mutant Chronicles was shot almost entirely in front of a green
screen, and it often has a look rather similar to another film using similar
techniques: Sky Captain and the World of
Tomorrow. However, while that film offered a vibrant and breathtaking world
of pulp visuals, this landscape is a visually flat knockoff of every sci-fi
horror flick ever made. One element it does share with Sky Captain is
somewhat soft focus during a lot of shots, but otherwise I have no real problems
with the transfer here. Murky and incomprehensible as some of the visuals are,
they are the fault of the film itself, not the transfer (which is as clean and
clear as it can be under the circumstances). Audio is quite strong as well,
offering a very rich and exciting experience that is more engaging than the
actual visuals. While I have no doubt that the DTS HD mix on the Blu-ray disc is
even stronger, this is a very good standard 5.1 mix.

Those special features sure are something, though. On the first disc, there
is an audio commentary with director Simon Hunter and Ron Perlman. The second
disc offers a whopping 107-minute making-of documentary covering just about
every aspect of the production you would be interested in hearing about. This
doc is actually even more engaging than the film. You also get deleted scenes,
green screen and storyboard comparisons, a promotional short film with
commentary by Hunter, a "making of the promotional short film"
featurette, interviews with the cast and crew, an HDNet featurette on the making
of the film, storyboards, concept art, visual effects reels, a comic-con
Q&A, some webisodes, and a trailer. Phew!

The Rebuttal Witnesses

There was this mosquito bugging me as I was writing this review, and I
finally got it. Oh, this is supposed to be good things about the film? Hmm.
While it isn't the worst film I've seen of this sort, I just can't think of
anything in particular that is praiseworthy.

Closing Statement

Unless you're a genre junkie or a lifelong fan of the original game, there's
no reason to check out Mutant Chronicles.